I am dropping calculus because I miscalculated. I signed up for Calculus class to keep my math skills fresh. It was an online course which, in theory, means I can take it from anywhere in the world and I knew I was going to Haiti. Its true that I would have to go back to the US twice during the semester to take exams, but I would likely have done that anyway to see my family. It turns out that getting a proper internet connection fast enough to allow me to access the book, the quizzes, my professor and class mates, is nearly impossible. Ok, wait, its not nearly impossible, its possible, as long as you have power and a generator and an invertor and batteries to keep your connection on once you have it that extremely expensive satellite based broadband link. All this to keep calculus fresh in mind.
As the reality of my situation, my frustration settled on me, I became irritated then angry. The class cost me money which I will now lose. But what gets me more upset is why I have to drop it. The fact that someone like me who can get around Haiti pretty easily and has more resources than most of the population (doesn’t take much) can get caught in not being able to take an online class, does not bode well for the rest of the population who don’t have money to spend US$1 per hour in a cyber café participating in an online class. Forget about the actual registration fees. There are however many people who would not have a problem paying the fees but are just not able to bear the expense of travel. Haitians are fully sophisticated in the understanding of the value of an education. People here routinely study for a high school diploma until they are 25 yrs old, slowed by the financial burdern. They getit done nonetheless. They would go on to get degrees from the wide variety of institution which offer classes online IF THEY COULD GET ACCESS TO THEM. Everyone in the world with a proper internet connection has access to them. Why not Haiti? Rumor has it that the fiber optic cable that could deliver that needed bandwidth has a terminal in downtown Port-au-Prince. It needs to be distributed. Trilogy Communications, parent of the Voila cellurar company, last week said they would invest US$100 million in building out a 3G and higher wireless band if the government would release the bandwidth. This would revolutionize education in Haiti at all levels. Potentially, the amount of people in Haiti who would have access to world news, to certificates, to classes at all levels, would explode. Historically, many Haitians leave when the have the opportunity which often comes with education. We can’t fault them. The struggle is not for everyone. But if we flood the market with the next generation of highly educated Haitians, they cant and wont all leave. Theirs will be a country worth fighting for and have opportunity to entice even the tepid entrepreneur.
Power and Bandwidth – Lack of it just cost me a few hundred bucks. Its driving me to set up a 24hr Hotspot and business center in Port-au-Prince to support the entrepreneurs who’s ideas will create the jobs that will deliver economic growth in Haiti. It might let some of them learn something new through online education. It might create a few more good managers. What it could do is unleash the true entrepreneurial spirit that lies at the heart of every Haitian. Hard work is par for the course here. Match it with ubiquitous and cheap energy and power and the results may remind us of the rise China, Korea and Taiwan.
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